[News] Flames opening day roster set

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

So is Pitlick practicing?

he has to be, otherwise they don't have 12 forwards for their opener

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Players I am excited about:

Mangiapane
Dube
Coleman
Gaudreau
Vladar

Players I am concerned about:

Gudbranson
Zadorov
Valimaki
Backlund
Ritchie

Players I am intrigued about:

Kylington
Tkachuk
Monahan
Hanifin
Andersson
Pitlick


There are a lot of question marks, for sure. Especially on D. But there is also a lot of depth, and it is a roster that could look good under Sutter.

The big ace in the hole - the chance for the Flames to be a strong or really strong team, is the goaltending. It might be fantastic.

The reason I am excited about this team is the combination of potentially having great goaltending, along with a great coach. A lot has to go right, but those two things could be a great foundation to build on.

The top line with Tkachuk on the right side of Gaudreau has looked genuinely effective at even strength too. We had lost that ability from the Gaudreau-Monahan pairing between the avs first round collapse and this past spring when they were finally separated. That new top line needs to be kept intact to help lead the way because I sense they could outproduce their opponents on a lot of nights.

If we can just clean up the defense to where we have 3 pairings that can each do the job in their own end well enough that we're not gripping our armrests watching them then we could probably make noise in a weak division, maybe a round or two deep into the post season.

I just pray that Gudbranson's AAV doesn't make him a staple on the bottom pairing longer than warranted and same for Zadorov potentially on the second pairing. Both guys are #5-6 defenceman on a good NHL team at best.

[1qqaaz]

I'm not that excited for the team, but I am pretty excited for the season.

Hockey helps us get through life.

[Hackey]

This is the least excited I've been for a Flames season in a long time. Hopefully things click and that changes quick. Either make the playoffs or complete poop the bed. Please not a repeat of last year.

[Wish They Could Win]

I think you will see Sutter roll with the forward lines and defensive pairings he has been leaning towards and then substitute for missing guys as necessary.

Tkachuk - Lindholm - Dube
Gaudreau - Monahan - Mangiapane
Ritchie - Backlund - Pitlick
Lucic - Gawdin - Lewis

Hanafin - Andersson
Zadorov - Tanev
Kylington - Gudbranson

Markstrom
Vladar

Honestly, I could see Ritchie and Dube flipped to keep the lines the way Sutter wants them to work out.


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[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Wish They Could Win

I think you will se Sutter roll with the forward lines and defensive pairings he has been leaning towards and then substitute for missing guys as necessary.

Tkachuk - Lindholm - Dube
Gaudreau - Monahan - Mangiapane
Ritchie - Backlund - Pitlick
Lucic - Gawdin - Lewis

Hanafin - Andersson
Zadorov - Tanev
Kylington - Gudbranson

Markstrom
Vladar

Honestly, I could see Ritchie and Dube flipped to keep the lines the way Sutter wants them to work out.


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We will lose a lot of games with these combinations.

Hopefully he's smarter than that.

[Wish They Could Win]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

We will lose a lot of games with these combinations.

Hopefully he's smarter than that.

That is game 1. Everything slots better as soon as Coleman is back.


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[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

I'm not that excited for the team, but I am pretty excited for the season.

Hockey helps us get through life.

Well, you know...that...and the booze.

[Hoop27]

They look like an all-world team compared to the Young Guns days.

[EVERLAST]

Hockey Hockey Hockey
Go Flames Go
Sutter is back...and he has allot of help.

Players on this team need to first and foremost realize that Sutter and Treliving have done everything they can to make this team a little tougher both mentally and physically.

Sprinkling in some guys thatve gone the distance and know the trials ahead helps.
I hope this takes some pressure off certain guys whove tried doing it all.....tried doing too much ....started with nothing and have most of it left.

There's nothing more inspiring to me than a coach that motivates, coaches, directs, knows what buttons to push and then also knows when to back off.

He once said.....dont get too high and don't get too low.

Darryl always looks at the positives and if you grab on and hang on long enough you learn how to compete, win, learn more, get stronger in all areas of the game.

We had a coach once by the name of Badger Bob and he was awesome. He could take anything bad and turn it into a positive and his players loved him for it.

Talk to any Flame alumni that player for BOB.....they'll tell ya....Darryls not much different.

This season as had been said by a few will be intriguing.

Depth Will matter as will roster health. That's my only concern.
Darryls style is hard on a fella and there's no doubt about it.
But winning comes with costs that most of this roster knows nothing about .....and there about to get a crash course.

We have to stay healthy, put points in the bank early and not have any prolonged lulls.

I've watched this team and know what they do when they aren't confident. Now it's time to flip the switch and change the narrative.

It is time.

UNFINISHED business fellas!!

Makes me think of the Hawks bench years ago taunting Iginla and telling him he better get back in the gym because he wasn't dominating anymore.

Yeah....okay.....if I hadn't seen it first hand I wouldn't have believed it.

This season will be like that. As a fan yeah I have my doubts and my recency bias doesn't help but I've never walked away from this team .

1986 loss to Montreal....sad but proud.
1989 win against Montreal....woo hoo.
2004 (it was in) man what a helluva year and still carry a little pride today.

2021/2022 __________

Hang on tight....long season ahead for sure but enjoy the ride.

Go Flames Go.

[stemit14]

Hard to tell how this version of the flames will do but my gut tells me this will be Johnny’s biggest year. It’s a contract year for him and I think he’s tired of all the doubters. I think he’ll break 100 points this year and look like the superstar he is.

I know most will say it’s rare for players to produce a lot under Sutter’s system. I have no evidence to prove that Johnny will have a monster year… it’s just a feeling. I know it’s preseason but he’s already looking faster, stronger, and even more hungry on the puck than ever. He’s back checking hard and it seems like he’s bought into Sutter’s system (even last year).


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[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Players I am excited about:

Mangiapane
Dube
Coleman
Gaudreau
Vladar

Players I am concerned about:

Gudbranson
Zadorov
Valimaki
Backlund
Ritchie

Players I am intrigued about:

Kylington
Tkachuk
Monahan
Hanifin
Andersson
Pitlick

Why are you concerned about Backlund? How he looked in preseason?

[Vinny01]

This is the least I have been excited for a season since I became a hardcore die hard fan of this team after the 04 run. I was a fairly blind optimist through the Iginla years so even when that team was far worse off than this current group is today in 2010-2013 I held out hope they would be able to string together a run.

While I do not think this group is hopeless I do think they need a tremendous amount of puckluck this year to be anything more than a bubble team. There are reasons for optimism that starts with the coaching and extends to the goaltending as both are the best they have been since Treliving took over. Markstrom will be one of many players looking to bounce back after subpar seasons. Markstrom, Tkachuk, Monahan lead this list and Tkachuk also joins Gaudreau and Mangiapane as key players trying to earn a huge payday.

To me the seismic change we all seek is still in play with Eichel having more links to the team than ever before (insiders Friedman and Lebrun have commented as Calgary being a team that has been really trying to make it happen and Friedman stating Eichel is not opposed to coming here either). To me this is still the move this team MUST make or I just do not see anything further than bouncing around the bubble for the next couple of years before bottoming out and missing the playoffs for 5+ years in a row.

The group we have today can possibly change some of our minds but if they go out and get Eichel then I think it makes a lot more sense to be all in now and for the next 5 years

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

he has to be, otherwise they don't have 12 forwards for their opener

They’ve certainly gone with 11 forwards and 7 D before. Would be weird for a season opener though.

[dustygoon]

So we have $300k of cap room (prob a little more when the suspension is done and we send Gawdin down). Is that what others see too? And Colorado has $1.3mm of space? Unreal. Why does Tre run it right up against the limit? Space and using Mackey has to be preferable to no space and gudbranson.

[djsFlames]

Backlund was the perfect complement to Mangi + Dube.

If they're used as a "pretend" third line, they'd do a lot of damage.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

he has to be, otherwise they don't have 12 forwards for their opener

We'll see tomorrow, but they could be holding off on putting Pitlick on LTIR until closer to game day then recalling Duehr to play on Saturday if Pitlick isn't ready to go.

[NewFan]

My hopes this season.
1. Play exciting and hard working games and have a couple playoff rounds. Extend Gaudreau and bring another a core player through trade or draft.
2. If not, trade best value players during the season and at the trade deadline and start rebuilding process with new GM.

[NewFan]

My lines:

Tkachuk - Lindholm - Mangiapane
Gaudreau - Monahan - Coleman
Lucic - Backlund - Dube
Lewis - Gawdin - Pitlick

Hanifin - Andersson
Zadorov/Valimaki - Tanev
Kylington - Gudbranson/Valimaki

Markstrom
Vladar

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

Why are you concerned about Backlund? How he looked in preseason?

I thought Backlund looked just fine in the last preseason game.

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